Guess what… We have tarsiers at Lia Beach!

We had been hearing them around for a while, every night, and they decided to show up this high season. It’s official: we have tarsiers at Lia Beach ☺

It all started when Darina and Pavel, two of our guests/volunteers from Czech Republic, decided to sit at the foot of a tree in the jungle up above the standard rooms. They just sat and waited at dusk, for over an hour, getting eaten alive by mosquitos. Their love for wildlife deserved it. At some point, they saw one, but when they switched on their flashlight, the tarsier left, jumping away at the speed of sound. They could only see it for a few seconds. Thanks for starting this guys!!

After them, a lot of guests did the same, and soon enough, the tarsiers started to come to us. Not on the beach, but they come down on trees at low level, so we can see them without even walking deep into the jungle. Just from the small bridge heading to our kitchen. They’re there almost every night, staring at us, while we’re staring at them. They probably wonder: “What the heck are you guys doing here?” And we wonder the same!

There are at least 6 of them, mother and children. The mum seems very protective but not scared; she has obviously understood we were not going to hurt her or her babies.

The tarsier is the smallest primate in the world. You won’t see it everywhere: extant tarsiers can only be found on some Asian islands including the Philippines, Malaysia and Indonesia.
The tarsier is a dozen centimeters high, excluding the tale. But he has very big feet, hence the name “tarsier”: his tarsus bones are highly developed. Thanks to his long legs, he can jump distances 10 times his size! He jumps very fast (but can’t walk) to catch his preys.
His eyes are huge compared to his size: they’re so big he can’t move them inside his eye sockets. But he can rotate his head almost 360 degrees!

Wanna see tarsiers? Lia Beach is the only Togean resort where you can!
It’s easy and it’s free. Plus we don’t feed them, like some people do in Northern Sulawesi…

EDIT 2018
The tarsiers are still around (we keep hearing them almost every night), but for some reason it’s been very difficult to see them for months. Our guess is the mum and her babies moved and other tarsiers came instead, who are much more scared by us, so every time we go and try to spot them, they just jump away.
Some of our guests this year have been lucky to see them for a few seconds, but it’s not what it used to be. So it goes in the wilderness!